The Dawn of Night

The Epic Campaign

Hunt for the Rogue Druid pt. II

Session 2

16

MAY/12

The three adventurers continue navigating the caverns and find a group of five goblins collecting blood from Torren, who had landed on a stalagmite and died during the cave-in. After a rough fight, the group managed to kill the goblins, then they rested in the area and recovered a note from Torren’s body. The three adventurers eventually found their target and were relieved to find that the drow, Aramil Nailo, and his goblin companion were not interested in an unnecessarily violent encounter. Arlain talked with Aramil’s goblin companion and learned that the goblins were kidnapping children to help a human named Jean whom they often referred to as “our dark lady”. Aramil revealed that he was actually trying to prevent a magical tree used by subterranean druids from growing out-of-control, which was causing the frequent tremors and cave-ins in the tunnels, while also further investigating the purpose behind the goblin’s actions. After learning that they were underground for nearly 3 days, the group decided to leave Aramil to his work for now and climb back out of the tunnel to check on Neal, the boy left with the horses. They found the boy missing, but what appeared to be a savage battle had taken place where he was waiting. They followed tracks away from the battle to find the camp of the Holy Companions and talked to their leader, Thorren, who told them that Neal had returned, but was drug into the abyss during a demon assault. The adventures decided to leave Thorren to his plans and asked him to let them know when he rescued Neal.

Comments

Ona’s Journal – Part 2: We found Torren’s body being drained of blood by goblins and slew them all. Torren left a note of unknown significance. Further into the tunnels, we encountered a mysterious and extremely dangerous tentacled creature that has an unearthly ability to surround itself in darkness. Duo was mightily injured by the thing before we knew it was there. We fled from it through the darkness to a large room within the cavern wherein we found the rogue druid Aramil, the druid tree, and a goblin. Aramil claims to be holding back the tree from an astounding rate of growth and refuses to return to the council until the problem is dealt with. The tree’s growth is being accelerated by some magical source located below the tree, presumably at its roots, perhaps deeper within the cavern. The goblin, speaking to Arlain, informed us that they were kidnapping children in the service of a “dark lady,” Jean. They are searching for a specific child who is important to this lady for the purpose of helping her achieve an important goal. (I am somehow under the impression that the goal has to do with reviving/freeing her dead or imprisoned lover.) The goblins were unable to convey what becomes of the children once they have been kidnapped. Through our conversation with Aramil and the goblins, we learned that we were imprisoned within the cocoons for 3 days. Aramil suggested that we might climb the tree to check on the child, Neal, whom we left just outside the cavern entrance. Upon reaching the surface, we discovered a scene of great carnage – small bits of horse, troll, giant, and unknown gore covered the area where the child had been left. We saw small human footprints leaving the scene, although it was unclear whether the footprints had been made before or after the carnage took place. We followed the footprints to the campsite of the Holy Companions. Their leader, Thorrin, informed us that the child, Neal, had been taken into the Abyss by demons and invited us to venture there with him in hopes of retrieving the child. We deferred the offer and suggested that we make the rescue attempt at a later time when we were better prepared to battle demons. From there, we returned to climb down, once again into the cavern to deal with Aramil, the Dark Lady, and the goblins.